Abstract
In regard to the “philosophy” of Nishida and Tanabe, while Shimomura acknowledged his deep intellectual debt to them, he could not help but become increasingly aware of their differences with himself. “Professors Nishida and Tanabe are both logicians.” Shimomura, having thus reaffirmed his own status as a “philosopher and a historian”, then declares, “My own historical interest can be thought of as being connected to the demand to understand from the source. Because it is an understanding it is not a creation. However, my private conceit is that this understanding from the source makes it philosophical.”
Translated from the Japanese by Robert Chapeskie and revised by John W. M. Krummel.
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Notes
- 1.
“Chronological History”, Shimomura Toratarō chosakushū [『下村寅太郎著作集』Collected Writings of Shimomura Toratarō] (hereafter abbreviated as Collected Writings), Misuzu shobō, vol. 13, p. 630.
- 2.
“Reflexibility” is written in English in the original text (translator).
- 3.
Ibid., p. 586.
- 4.
Text in {} added by the author (Takeda Atsushi) (translator).
- 5.
Ibid., p. 575.
- 6.
Iemura Seiichi (?–1948) is a figure worthy of detailed study, not only as someone who supported Shimomura’s research on the philosophy of mathematics but also as an individual whose scholarship and abilities were held in high regard by Tanabe Hajime.
- 7.
“Dokusho manroku” [Reading Notes], Collected Writings, vol. 13, p. 44.
- 8.
For a discussion of Kindai no chōkoku [『近代の超克』Overcoming Modernity], see Chap. 17.
- 9.
Kagakushi no tetsugaku [『科学史の哲学』Philosophy of the History of Science], Collected Writings, vol. 1, pp. 143–144.
- 10.
Ibid., p. 193.
- 11.
“Chosaku henro”[「著作遍路」 “Pilgrimage Through Writing”], Collected Writings, vol. 13, p. 304.
- 12.
Kagakushi no tetsugaku [『科学史の哲学』Philosophy of the History of Science], Collected Writings, vol. 1, p. 143.
- 13.
Ibid., pp. 147–148.
- 14.
“Kōki” [「後記」 “Postscript”], Collected Writings, vol. 1, p. 486.
- 15.
Ibid., p. 484.
- 16.
“Chosaku henro” [「著作遍路」 “Pilgrimage Through Writings”], Collected Writings, col. 13, p. 344.
- 17.
While they were being serially published in the journal Kokoro [『心』Mind], Tanabe eagerly awaited each installment, and after reading it would immediately set down his impressions in detail and send them to Shimomura. Encouraged by this, Shimomura continued his writing as if addressing himself to his former teacher as his only reader. A total of twenty-two letters from Tanabe are included in the monthly report of each volume of the Collected Writings.
- 18.
Yōroppa henreki [『ヨーロッパ遍歴』Wanderings in Europe], Collected Writings, col. 8, pp. 273–274.
- 19.
“Chosaku henro” [「著作遍路」 “Pilgrimage Through Writing”], Collected Writings, vol. 13, pp. 364–365.
- 20.
“historian” is written in English in the original text (translator).
- 21.
“Kēgi Burukuharuto to yōroppazō” [Kaegi Burckhardt and the Image of Europe], Collected Writings, vol. 10, p. 328.
- 22.
“exist” is written in English in the original text (translator).
- 23.
Rohen kūgo (shō) [『炉辺空語(抄)』Fireside Conjectures (extracts)], Collected Writings, col. 10, p. 566.
- 24.
“logician” is written in English in the original text (translator).
- 25.
“sense” is written in English in the original text (translator).
- 26.
Ibid., p. 565.
- 27.
“Pilgrimage Through Writing”, ibid., p. 416.
- 28.
Ōhashi Ryōsuke, Shimomura Toratarō—Seishinshi no naka no nihonkindai [『下村寅太郎 ― 精神史の中の日本近代』Shimomura Toratarō: Japanese Modernity in the Intellectual History], Toeisha, 2000, p. 462.
- 29.
Ibid., pp. 454–455.
- 30.
“Hisamatsu Shinichi – aru hi no” [「久松真一――ある日の」 “Hisamatsu Shinichi —One Day of”], Collected Writings, vol. 13, pp. 144–145.
- 31.
“Dispensing with the preliminaries, thank you, belatedly, for Philosophy of the History of Science. I want to say right away that although I actually read it for the first time only recently, I was very impressed. Excluding your Watsujian methodology, I am in whole-hearted agreement with your emphasis on “intellectual history”. If I may say so, culture, for example, exists everywhere (even in the Andaman islands and New Guinea), but the spirit of culture, the conscious formation of culture, is probably quite rare. And because there are indeed many places in which my own ideas have been put in order, I think this is a book that I will have to keep and not sell. There are places that today’s light-headed bunch need to read slowly and reflect on deeply. Surely one who ‘recommends’ this book brings honor not to the author but to himself. I think there are points remaining concerning the issue of science and technology, but I will give them some thought [before sharing them with you]. (Give my regards to your wife). April 1st, 1942.”
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Takeda, A. (2018). Shimomura Toratarō: Tracking “Intellectual History”. In: Fujita, M. (eds) The Philosophy of the Kyoto School. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8983-1_14
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